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Tottenham Hotspur head coach Robert Villaham has called for a shorter winter break to help players maintain “momentum” in the Women’s Super League (WSL).
The 2024/25 campaign returned at the weekend after a five-week break and Spurs celebrated with a 1-0 victory over Leicester City at Brisbane Road.
However, after the game Willahmann described his club’s performance as “rusty”. Speaking to the media today, he blamed the length of the winter break, calling it “too long”.
“We were supposed to play a friendly against Charlton (before the season resumed) but it was called off because of the weather,” he said. “Our (FA Cup) fixture against Everton was also cancelled. We had some really difficult days with the temperature and the pitches not being safe to play on.
“I think a five-week break is too long. I think if you want to get momentum in this league with the fans and the media, we have to take a little bit of a break to make sure we keep the momentum going.”
Villahamn expressed that since Christmas was “rusty” he had thought a lot about the performance of the first fixture in the league.
First win of 2025 ✅ pic.twitter.com/XnmlPiZSy1
– Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) January 19, 2025
“I think a lot of teams actually didn’t have a perfect first half, and then some teams were really good in the second half,” he said. “Obviously, Chelsea were really good.
“What I mean by rust is that you need to make sure you press and play with each other on the pitch against an opponent you don’t really know and that takes time.
“You need a few goes before you do that. In a normal pre-season you have three, four or five games before you go into the first game. We didn’t have a lot of games and you could tell the players didn’t. Really. Knew how to deal with pressure, emotions and relationships.
“It wasn’t a good decision. We played and we tried. I’m glad we tried, but the quality wasn’t there. It’s not because they don’t have quality, it was just because of the rust.”
Tottenham are set to play West Ham United at Brisbane Road on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.
